Worcester Sharks extend jinx vs. Connecticut Whale

You’ll hear second-graders singing “Rudolph the Beige-Nosed Reindeer” before the Sharks beat the Connecticut Whale. It happened again here last night, a lifeless performance by Worcester and a dreary 2-1 loss. The Sharks are 0-3-0 vs. the Whale and 12-6-3 vs. the rest of the AHL.

It happened again here last night, a lifeless performance by Worcester and a dreary 2-1 loss. The Sharks are 0-3-0 vs. the Whale and 12-6-3 vs. the rest of the AHL. Connecticut is 8-11-2 against the rest of the league, 3-0-0 against the Sharks.

Worcester has scored four goals in three games against a team that has lost games by scores of 10-2 and 9-2 already this year.

James Livingston chipped in with his first goal of the season, snapping a 25-game drought that went back to last year. Chad Kolarik and J.T. Miller had the Whale goals, both coming in the third period. Connecticut was 1 for 3 on the power play, Worcester 0 for 6.

“Our back end wasn’t very good, our goaltending was good, but special teams let us down,” Sommer said.

Harri Sateri was very sharp in the Worcester net as the Sharks were outshot, 38-26. Once again, Worcester made it easy for Whale goaltender Cameron Talbot, who had few tough chances.

Connecticut has won 33 of the 49 games it has played against the Sharks, including 12 of the last 14.

While Worcester has been winning, that will change unless it starts scoring more goals. The Sharks have scored only 15 goals in their last seven games and that’s directly related to a brutal power-play slump. They are 2 for 36 in that span.

The only assist on Livingston’s goal went to Sena Acolatse, so Kennedy’s points streak ended at eight games. The game was the 500th all-time for the Sharks and they are 243-198-59 in those games.

The loss snapped Sateri’s four-game winning streak, but he actually played as well in defeat as he did during the winning streak. In his last five games, Sateri’s goals against average is 2.31 and his saves percentage .934.

Thanks to Sateri, the first period was scoreless as the Whale dominated play. The second period was almost scoreless as well, but Livingston finished a two-on-one break at 18:22, ripping a wrist shot past Talbot from the right circle.

Connecticut dominated the final period, though, and had a 14-6 advantage in shots even though Worcester had two power plays. The Whale had one power play and took advantage as Kolarik tied the score at 1:23 with a wrist shot from the right circle.

Miller drilled home a slap shot at 6:09 for the game’s final goal, with Connecticut converting a three-on-one break.

Taylor Doherty has had surgery for a sliced Achilles’ tendon and will be out for an extended period; Matt Irwin has what the team calls a “tweak,” and did not dress last night. Danny Groulx (concussion) and Nick Petrecki (hand) remain sidelined, so the Sharks brought defenseman Mike Banwell back up from Trenton of the ECHL. … Video replay was used for the third time in the last four Sharks games. Kelsey Tessier had a partial breakaway late in the second period and the puck was covered by Sateri very close to the goal line. Ref Terry Koharski called for the replay but decided “no goal” after a brief look. … Worcester plays in Hershey Saturday night, then plays host to Portland at 3 p.m. Sunday at the DCU Center. Rene Rancourt will sign and sing — he’ll do the national anthem as well as autographs. … Curt Gogol is banged up and did not dress. Jimmy Bonneau and Jon Matsumoto were the scratches. … The crowd was so small that the game MC interviewed a fan in the seats during the second period and finished by saying, “Give her a hand — all 20 of you.”

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